AI-Powered Chips and Skills Shaping Indias Next-Gen Workforce

20 Feb 2026 11:00h - 12:00h

Session at a glance

Summary

This discussion focused on India’s semiconductor industry development, workforce challenges, and the collaboration between government, academia, and industry to build a skilled talent pipeline. The panel featured representatives from LAM Research, the Indian government including Secretary S. Krishnan and Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, and Professor Saurabh Chandorkar from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

Secretary Krishnan emphasized the convergence of India’s AI mission and semiconductor mission, highlighting that India will have ten committed semiconductor plants with four beginning production in 2026. He stressed the critical need for advanced manufacturing skills, noting that while India has strong design capabilities and a large talent pool for AI, the country lacks expertise in precision semiconductor equipment manufacturing. The newly announced India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 will address the entire ecosystem including equipment manufacturing and workforce development.

Minister Vaishnaw announced significant progress in semiconductor education, expanding from an initial target of 50 universities to 315 universities now offering semiconductor programs. He highlighted that students across India are designing chips and having them manufactured at SCL Mohali, creating unprecedented capability in the country.

David Freed from LAM Research discussed the company’s Semiverse Solutions program, which provides virtual semiconductor manufacturing training to address the projected one million-person talent shortage in the global semiconductor industry. He emphasized the importance of developing broad talent and understanding rather than focusing on single skills, noting that the talent gap spans multiple disciplines from field service engineers to process developers.

Professor Chandorkar outlined IISc’s role in workforce development and the need for hands-on training beyond theoretical knowledge. The discussion concluded with recommendations for industry-academia collaboration, including faculty fellowships and industry-aligned PhD projects to accelerate talent development in India’s rapidly growing semiconductor ecosystem.

Keypoints

Major Discussion Points:

– India’s Semiconductor Manufacturing Growth and ISM 2.0: Discussion of India’s rapid progress in semiconductor manufacturing, with 10 major semiconductor plants committed across the country and 4 beginning production in 2026. The announcement of India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 will expand focus to include semiconductor equipment manufacturing and the broader ecosystem beyond just wafer fabrication.

– Massive Workforce Development Challenge: The industry faces a critical shortage of approximately 1 million skilled workers globally in semiconductor manufacturing. The emphasis is on developing broad talent and understanding rather than narrow skills, with focus on critical thinking, problem-solving, and comprehensive knowledge of the semiconductor ecosystem rather than single-skill specialization.

– Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration Model: The successful three-way partnership between companies like LAM Research, academic institutions like Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and government support through programs like Semiverse Solutions. This collaboration includes training programs, faculty fellowships, and hands-on experience with advanced semiconductor tools across 315 universities.

– AI and Semiconductor Convergence: Recognition that AI and semiconductors are increasingly interdependent – “you can’t speak of AI without speaking of semiconductors or vice versa.” India’s semiconductor market is projected to reach $100 billion by the end of the decade, driven largely by AI applications and the need for advanced manufacturing capabilities.

– Building India’s Role in Global Supply Chains: Discussion of making India an indispensable part of the global semiconductor supply chain, moving beyond design capabilities to manufacturing and equipment production. This includes joining initiatives like Pax Silica and developing precision manufacturing skills for semiconductor equipment.

Overall Purpose:

The discussion aimed to address India’s semiconductor workforce development strategy and examine how to build scalable, holistic approaches to support India’s semiconductor manufacturing ambitions. The session focused on bridging the talent gap through collaboration between industry, academia, and government while positioning India as a key player in the global semiconductor supply chain.

Overall Tone:

The discussion maintained a consistently optimistic and collaborative tone throughout. Speakers expressed enthusiasm about India’s semiconductor progress and demonstrated strong alignment between industry needs and government/academic support. The tone was professional yet celebratory, with participants showing genuine excitement about the opportunities ahead. There was a sense of urgency about addressing the workforce challenges, but this was balanced with confidence in the collaborative approach being taken. The atmosphere remained positive and solution-oriented from beginning to end.

Speakers

Speakers from the provided list:

– Rangesh Raghavan – Role/Title: Not explicitly mentioned, but appears to be moderating/hosting the event and representing LAM Research

– S. Krishnan – Role/Title: Secretary of METI (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology)

– David Freed – Role/Title: Corporate Vice President and leader of LAM Research’s advanced analytical and simulation software business; Leader of global semiconductor modeling and workforce development organization called Semiverse Solutions

– Paul Triolo – Role/Title: Partner in technology practice lead at the DGA group; Panel discussion moderator

– Professor Saurabh Chandorkar – Role/Title: Professor at Indian Institute of Science (IISc); Key partner in the launch and execution of the Semiverse program; Expert in advanced research areas for semiconductors and applications

– Ashwini Vaishnaw – Role/Title: Honorable Minister (appears to be instrumental in India’s semiconductor industry development)

– Harish Kumar – Role/Title: From CSTV, Access to Energy Systems

– Participant – Role/Title: Various unidentified audience members asking questions

Additional speakers:

None – all speakers mentioned in the transcript are included in the provided speakers names list.

Full session report

This discussion on India’s semiconductor industry development brought together government officials, industry leaders, and academic representatives to examine workforce development strategies supporting India’s semiconductor ambitions. The panel included Secretary S. Krishnan, Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, David Freed from LAM Research, and Professor Saurabh Chandorkar from the Indian Institute of Science. (Note: Anand Ramamurthy from Micron was scheduled to participate but had a personal emergency.)

Strategic Context and Industry Growth

Secretary S. Krishnan opened by emphasizing the convergence of India’s AI mission and semiconductor mission, noting that “today we can’t any longer speak of AI without speaking of semiconductors or vice versa.” He established that semiconductor capabilities are essential for India’s AI aspirations and economic competitiveness.

Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw announced significant progress in India’s semiconductor development. The country has committed to ten major semiconductor plants, with “four of them at least. We will commence production during the current year, during 2026, and the remaining in due course in about a year or so.” He revealed that semiconductor education programs have expanded dramatically from an initial target of 50 universities to 315 universities now offering semiconductor courses, with students designing chips and having them manufactured at SCL Mohali.

The minister also announced that the Prime Minister would be founding a new semiconductor plant in Uttar Pradesh the following day, and noted that India currently has “20% of the semiconductor design team in the country, in the world.” India’s domestic semiconductor market is projected to reach “$100 billion by the end of this decade.”

The newly announced India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 will encompass the entire semiconductor ecosystem, including equipment manufacturing, representing a comprehensive approach beyond just chip fabrication.

The Global Talent Gap Challenge

David Freed from LAM Research highlighted a critical global challenge: a projected one million-person talent shortage in the semiconductor industry. Crucially, he emphasized that “it’s important to recognize that that gap is not a single type of person, a single type of skill. The span of disciplines that make up that million person gap is very, very broad.”

This shortage spans field service engineers, process engineers, equipment engineers, metrology engineers, device engineers, and specialists in simulation and reliability testing. The diversity of required expertise challenges traditional workforce development approaches.

Secretary Krishnan identified India’s specific gap: “Where we lack is people in advanced manufacturing. In the actual manufacture of semiconductors. Where we lack is in the precision manufacturing of the equipment needed for semiconductors.” While India has strengths in semiconductor design and AI talent, it needs to develop advanced manufacturing expertise.

The government has set targets of “60,000 talent for clean room operations and 80,000 overall design engineers” and has facilitated training for Indian workers in facilities across Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, and Europe.

Talent Development Philosophy: Breadth Over Specialization

A key theme was developing broad talent rather than narrow technical specialization. David Freed advocated for focusing on “talent rather than skill,” emphasizing critical thinking, problem-solving abilities, and comprehensive understanding of the semiconductor ecosystem.

Freed provided a relevant example of how AI systems can now write code autonomously, demonstrating the risk of over-specializing in specific technical skills that may become obsolete. Instead, the recommended approach emphasizes foundational knowledge in physics, chemistry, and materials science, combined with strong problem-solving capabilities.

Professor Saurabh Chandorkar reinforced this perspective, noting that while students need broad understanding of semiconductor processes, they also require hands-on experience to become industry-ready. He emphasized that theoretical knowledge alone is insufficient—students must understand how fabrication facilities operate and how to address practical manufacturing challenges.

Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration

The discussion revealed strong alignment between industry needs, academic capabilities, and government policy. David Freed noted the natural industry motivation: “This is one of the few situations where industry doesn’t need to be convinced to be involved here. If we don’t fill that talent gap we will fail.”

LAM Research’s Semiverse Solutions program exemplifies this collaboration, providing virtual semiconductor manufacturing training tools to universities across India. This enables students to gain exposure to advanced manufacturing processes without requiring expensive fabrication facilities.

Professor Chandorkar described IISc’s role, operating one of the world’s top academic fabrication facilities and developing training programs including courses on advanced manufacturing processes and practical skills. He mentioned the INUP program and noted that IISc has established a training fab, though emphasized that no single institution can train the massive workforce required.

The government’s role involves creating supportive policy frameworks while providing practical training support, including international exposure programs.

Training Approaches and Strategic Positioning

David Freed proposed faculty fellowships at semiconductor companies, providing faculty members with six to nine-month industry positions to gain direct manufacturing experience. This would create a multiplier effect for industry-relevant education.

The discussion emphasized India’s strategic objective of becoming an indispensable part of global semiconductor supply chains. Secretary Krishnan articulated this vision: “when you are part of a global supply chain you are never going to manufacture everything in the chain but you need to have a significantly important and you need to be an indispensable part of it somewhere.”

He also mentioned that “we signed the Pax Silica, we were added to the Pax Silica,” though details about this initiative were not provided in the discussion.

Implementation and Future Directions

The scale of workforce development required presents significant coordination challenges across hundreds of universities, multiple government agencies, and numerous industry partners. The timeline pressure is considerable—while established semiconductor nations developed expertise over decades, India aims to build comparable capabilities much more rapidly.

The multi-layered training approach combines theoretical foundation-building through programs like Semiverse with practical hands-on experience in actual fabrication environments. Professor Chandorkar emphasized that while software-based training provides essential understanding, students require additional exposure to real manufacturing environments.

Conclusion

The discussion demonstrated remarkable convergence among government, industry, and academic stakeholders on India’s semiconductor workforce development strategy. The emphasis on broad talent development, comprehensive ecosystem building, and recognition of the critical importance of closing the talent gap creates a strong foundation for progress.

Success in building these capabilities will position India as an attractive destination for high-technology manufacturing across multiple sectors. The convergence of AI and semiconductor technologies means that leadership in semiconductor manufacturing will directly support India’s broader AI ambitions and digital economy development.

The collaborative model provides a template for other technology sectors and countries facing similar workforce challenges. As India implements these strategies, success will be measured by the ability to drive innovation, support advanced manufacturing, and establish India as an indispensable partner in global technology supply chains.

Session transcript

Rangesh Raghavan

required workers to enable the growth of the semiconductor industry and support this era. We’re here today to just talk about that. Thank you for the opportunity to engage in this important conversation. We have experts here who can talk about how we build scalable, holistic workforce strategies to develop India’s semiconductor ambitions. We extend a warm welcome to our guests today. I’ll start with Sri Krishnanji, Secretary of METI. Thank you, sir, for joining us today. We know you’re very busy, but if I may add, excellent job by the METI team and all of, you know, we’re very proud to be here at this event. It was a mind -blowing exhibition. For those of you who have not enjoyed the exhibition, I urge you.

It has apparently been extended by a day. So I urge you to visit tomorrow. Tomorrow, if you get the chance to do so. You can visit till 8 p .m. today. You can visit till 8 p .m. today, sir. Sir, thank you, thank you sir well we have also here with us David Freed, Corporate Vice President and leader of LAM Research’s advanced analytical and simulation software business that supports the development of the semiconductor industry we also have Mr. Paul Triolo Mr. Paul Triolo is a partner in technology practice lead at the DGA group who graciously agreed to be a moderator for our panel discussion which is to follow shortly to set some context to both these sessions 2025 was a great year it was a great year for the India semiconductor industry as well with the right focus of the government and thanks to the India semiconductor mission years of policy vision are finally translating ambition into reality and we are beginning to see the fruits of that now and rightfully so the government has expanded their focus beyond just wafer fabrication to the larger ecosystem and to the larger because we realize that it takes the whole village to make this happen.

How do we ensure that we have the right talent, the research infrastructure, the technology expertise, the supply chain, all of the other things that it takes to support this sector? With the industry accelerating past a trillion dollars, we at LAM recognize the importance of supporting a globally distributed innovation -led ecosystem. We’ve been in India for 25 years, and we are committed to being a long -term partner and contributor to this. We have a state -of -the -art systems engineering lab for semiconductors in Bengaluru, which continues to grow and is significantly expanding India’s contribution to the global industry. We are also making rapid progress in integrating India’s supply chain into our global supply chain. But most importantly, we have taken big strides in supporting the development of the workforce in India, and David will talk about that a little bit more shortly.

so it won’t take any much more time but I’ll invite Secretary Krishnan to share a few of his remarks. Thank you. Do you want a picture? He wants a picture now.

S. Krishnan

Part of the planning for many of these sessions included instructions that the picture of the panellist needs to be taken right in the beginning so that if somebody goes missing midway through they’re not missed. So I guess he was getting to do his job. Lamb research in some ways is a bit of a a lucky charm as far as I’m concerned and I think Rangesh will understand what I’m trying to say but more importantly I think this is, I’m really happy to be part of this session because this is one of those sessions which represents what the convergence is in what India is attempting. We have two major missions, we have the India AI mission and we have the India semiconductor mission and this session kind of represents how those two missions are converging or getting together.

It represents how semiconductors are so central to the AI story as AI is increasingly to the semiconductor story. So this morning we also signed the Pax Silica, we were added to the Pax Silica so which again represents a very important step forward in building a trusted supply chain in the semiconductor space. What the world needs is a resilient and reliable supply chain where, I mean, it is not just for geopolitical reasons, but even for other reasons. We saw in the COVID pandemic issues relating to the supply chain prop up and therefore over -reliance on any one geography is always going to be a problem and India needs to be part of this game. And for India to be a reliable long -term partner in this game, it is also very important that we are not just part of the design teams, which we already are, including for land research and including for many other leading semiconductor companies in the world, but we also need to be part of the manufacturing.

And manufacturing not just of the chips. And this year we are going to have 10 of the, we already have committed to 10 major semiconductor plants across the country, four of them at least. We will commence production during the current year, during 2026. and the remaining in due course in about a year or so. But more importantly, I think the India Semiconductor Mission 2 .0 has also been announced, which will cover the entire ecosystem, including the manufacture of semiconductor equipment in the country. And I think that is a very, very critical and important step. And this is important from a context where I think the use of semiconductors is only going to grow and not come down.

India’s own market for semiconductors is going to be about $100 billion by the end of this decade, and a fairly substantial part of what the global market is. And we need to build capacity to actually cater to a significant part of this market, and in some senses also for export. And the export part is important, not from the perspective, not just from the perspective of… being competitive and being efficient because if you’re not able to export then it obviously means you’re not competitive and efficient globally but also because when you are part of a global supply chain you are never going to manufacture everything in the chain but you need to have a significantly important and you need to be an indispensable part of it somewhere so that you don’t sort of get knocked out of it that somebody else’s way so it is it’s it’s the way that this entire system works it’s the way the global value chain works and that’s where we are coming together in this entire space and what lamb is doing in the space is extremely important and equally what’s very important if we are to do this kind of advanced manufacturing in the country is actually the capacity building to have the skills to do this we keep talking about STEM skills in this country we keep talking about the number of people who are we we have 20 % of the semiconductor design team in the country, in the world.

We also are recognized as having one of the largest talent pools for manufacturing, for AI in the world. Both of these are true. But where we lack is people in advanced manufacturing. In the actual manufacture of semiconductors. Where we lack is in the precision manufacturing of the equipment needed for semiconductors. And LAM Research and companies of that nature, in building the semiconductor ecosystem in this country, are looking to develop precisely that. The precision manufacture of semiconductor equipment. That means we will have to skill people in that space. We will have to skill people in that line of work. And that’s the real challenge that we will be facing in the next five years. As part of the India Semiconductor Mission, we have trained workers.

In FRABS and in… in OSATs, not just in India, but like in the semiconductor lab at Mohali, but also in Malaysia. We have trained people in Singapore. We have trained people in Taiwan. We have trained people in Europe. We have trained people in different parts of the world. And we will continue to do that, but we will also need more capacity to do it here. And training and research capacity being built by companies like LAND will have an important implication there, and the government will support those initiatives as part of the India Semiconductor Mission 2 .0, and make sure that India becomes a key player in this space as well and becomes a key partner in global supply chains.

It’s an investment that the world is making in India, which I can assure you will be paid back in no uncertain terms in terms of building a resilient, trusted value chain for semiconductors for the world, and that’s precisely what… We are attempting… to do through the series of initiatives and today we can’t any longer speak of ai without speaking of semiconductors or vice versa and which is why what lamb is doing and what we are attempting to do in terms of skill building in this critical space is so important and which is why i’m extremely happy to be part of this event and all strength to you in lamb may you continue to be a lucky charm thank you

Rangesh Raghavan

thank you very much christian sir uh deepa sir is in such a hurry that you’re in such a hurry uh we want to make sure you get your gifts I just wanted to wind down. Five minutes. Okay. We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of Honorable Minister Vaishnoji. He is five minutes away, is what I’m just told. Minister Vaishnoji has been instrumental in getting this industry where it is in India over the past few years. We look forward to his presence here shortly. And in the interim, I’d just like to invite David Freed to give a few comments. David is a leader of our global semiconductor modeling and workforce development organization called Semiverse Solutions. David has played a key role.

in building India’s workforce training on advanced semiconductor manufacturing. He’ll give a few words about that. Thank you. Thank you very much.

David Freed

even design. And so the objective here is really to drive across the country for full scaling of our talent development. So with that I’ll wrap up. Thank you very much for your attention and I think we’ll kick off our panel pretty soon. I’m sorry.

Rangesh Raghavan

Thank you very much David. Welcome sir. It’s a pleasure to see you again. We know you’re very busy and this is one of the marquee events for the country of the whole year. The scale and the impression of this event is mind boggling truly at the scale that we have been able to do it. So congratulations to you sir and the team for inspiring us with the exhibits that we saw today were amazing. And it speaks to the potential of AI. It also speaks to the importance of the semiconductor industry to enable this transition and the role that companies like LAM play in that. and we are very grateful to you sir for your support.

You’ve always been very supportive of us in our journey here and you continue to be so we’d like to hear from you a few remarks. We know you’re a very busy person so we’d appreciate it. Thank you.

Ashwini Vaishnaw

This is LAM team or people who have come to listen to LAM. How many people work in LAM? Mostly people who are mostly here. LAM supplier ecosystem. Okay, very good. Solar technology. You’re in solar, very good. The way the semiconductor industry is growing in India, this is an unprecedented thing. Just in a few years, in the beginning of 2014, I was told that I was going to be a member of the LAM team. I was told that I was going to be a member of the LAM team. I was told that I was going to be a member of the LAM team. I was told that I was going to be a member of the LAM team.

I was told that I was going to be a member of the LAM team. I was told that I was going to be a member of the LAM team. I was told that I was going to be a member of the LAM team. Initially, we were focused on design and we had a lot of new capabilities in design. Then we came to manufacturing and now we are going much deeper in equipment and materials. In 2022, when the semiconductor mission started, we had a target of 60 ,000 talent for clean room operations and 80 ,000 overall design engineers. We thought we will start in 50 universities. Today, we have 315 universities. We already have students using world’s latest design tools, designing chips, getting them manufactured in SCL Mohali and validating them.

And throughout the country, from Assam, J &K, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Students from all over the country are doing chip design themselves. This capability is going to become a great power for the coming years. And we all know that in this world of AI, in the age of intelligence, semiconductors will be one of the most important layers. In this architecture of five layers, semiconductor is going to be a very important layer. So, all of you please participate in this. I would like to thank LAM for taking this initiative. I would like to thank all the people who have got associated, especially the universities. How many people have come from the universities? How was your experience? How was your experience coming from the university?

Very good. How easy was it to use this entire semi -verse? Very easy. Actually, my good friends from LAM… It was easy. Did anyone find it difficult? Talent gap has to be filled by India only. That means all that work is going to come to India. That will be a huge opportunity, space for our young people. And tomorrow, in Uttar Pradesh, a new semiconductor plant will be founded by our Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi. Many congratulations

Rangesh Raghavan

As you know sir we are in the business of deposition and etching this is an old 14th century Indian technology called Bidariware from the district of Bidar in North Karnataka where they also do this damascene process which is what is used for the most advanced semiconductors today so this is a plate which is showing the skill of the artisans who have manually etched these features and deposited metal within those etched features and then polished it which is exactly the process used today for semiconductor manufacturing so we thought it would be very appropriate for you to have this gift so thank you very much sir thank you thank you so much thank you so much sir Thank you.

Thank you. so now we can proceed with the panel discussion with the remaining time we have we have Paul Trielo here to conduct the panel discussion we had Mr. Anand Ramamurthy from Micron due to join us unfortunately he had a personal emergency and he had to leave town so we wish him well in the meanwhile we’ll have David and we’ll have Professor Saurabh Chandorkar Professor Chandorkar is one of our key partners at Indian Institute of Science he has been instrumental in the launch and execution of the Semiverse program he is also very busy advancing the state of the nation in the most advanced research areas for semiconductors and its applications so we’d love to hear from him as well thank you very much thank you Paul

Paul Triolo

Thank you. So, okay, I’m going to pick up on some of the themes that were discussed earlier. I was going to grill Secretary Krishnan on ISM 2 .0, but unfortunately we can’t do that. But I think it’s really important looking forward to, as was mentioned, ISM 2 .0 will focus on skilling and on supply chains and manufacturing. So let me start with Dr. Chandakar. We know that IIS is hosting a really rich center in Bangalore with LAM and other companies that is critical for the skilling issue in the semiconductor industry going forward. How do you see the future shaping up in 2026? And what does IIS need, for example, from the government under ISM 2 .0?

Professor Saurabh Chandorkar

Sure. Sure. So let me just start by saying that. It’s actually quite amazing for me to just have. the dream of having FABs come up in India. It was something that actually happened from my father’s time, who was also a professor in IIT Bombay. And since his time, he was also a semiconductor manufacturer and technology and such. So anyway, fast forward, we are in this amazing position where we are actually getting FABs here, which obviously, as has been discussed, leads us to realize that we actually need a lot of workforce. And it’s not that we didn’t have people out here who were learning, say, semiconductor technology. It wasn’t that we were not doing semiconductor design.

But what was actually missing was the ability to actually see how FAB actually works, where you actually go and interact with tools. And that’s where the semi -verse comes in and, you know, and basically we in ISE do, in fact, have a really good FAB. as an academic fab, I would say we are probably in the top three or four in the world. So we are pretty good there, but that’s not the case for most of the universities in here. And we alone cannot take the role of training one million people. That’s just impossible. So when this whole program came, this was an ideal opportunity. And so, of course, that’s very exciting. And I see ourselves, we also recognize that this needs a certain re -look at the way we teach our coursework.

So, for example, we started teaching courses such as advanced notes from the perspective of fab, and that’s where, in fact, we do teach and make use of this software. and I, for example, teach SPC, which is basically process control. How does one do that? And those are the kinds of things that are actually really required for FAB. And so the way I see it is I think the foundation has been laid down, and I am sure that if this continues along with the support of the government, I’m sure we’ll do just fine. But the ask is not small, by the way. If you just look at it, it’s not just that once you get trained on tools like this that you become really actually immediately ready to go and start working in the FABs.

That’s not the case. And what needs to be, therefore, understood is that there is a second layer of hands -on training that needs to happen. We ourselves, in fact, have started, we have a training FAB that’s currently getting established, and this needs to happen across India far more. We already do these kinds of programs called INUP where people come from all around India and do some sort of FAB in our FABs. But this would be more intended towards training. And so we are gearing ourselves up for that. And I think this needs to happen everywhere else where more FABs need to come up and show this up.

Paul Triolo

Great, great. Those are great. So, I mean, as we’ve heard, I think this integration of government support for both the academic piece of this and the industry piece is really important, a really important three -way relationship. So I’m going to go back to David with a great presentation on Semiverse and say, you know, LAM as I think everybody understands is such a critical. part of the supply chain. I mean, you know, no land, no semiconductors, right? So, David, how do you envision this workforce? As Professor Chandakar has noted, you know, the foundation has been laid, but I think that as AI is taking off and as we look forward to the next three to four years, you know, we’re going to see this huge demand.

And the million -person shortage really sort of blows my mind here. That’s a huge number. So in terms of support from the government to help close that gap, to continue the momentum that land has generated here, what are the gaps you see here? And are there areas you’d like to see expanded in terms of this collaboration between both the government and academia?

David Freed

Okay, so I’ll start just thinking about the gaps, right? This million. This million -person gap. I think it’s important to recognize that that gap is not a single type of person, a single type of skill. Right. There’s gaps across the entire ecosystem. And that ecosystem spans from even just from LAM’s perspective, field service engineers who maintain the tools in the lab and in the fab all the way to process engineers, process developers, equipment engineers. And then if you expand out to the rest of the ecosystem, our customers, they will have demands in metrology engineers. They will have demands in device engineers, simulation and reliability. So the span of disciplines that make up that million person gap is very, very broad.

OK. And so one of the things that we tend to focus more on developing talent and a talent pipeline rather than just. Educating on individual skills. And I think that’s super important for the future of semiconductors in India that we focus on broad talent. And I want to I actually want to touch a word that you said. I think you said it five different times in your response, Professor. Use the word understand. the understanding of what we’re producing the understanding of what our products are is so much more important than a singular skill to go do one thing and so the semi -verse program at IISC as we’ve expanded out across the country is more about teaching students what are we making what are the devices what does process integration mean what are we creating so that those students can go off into various different areas of the ecosystem are they ready for all of those jobs with one class?

no, of course not they need the additional hands -on training they need additional education in those areas but my recommendation I think the recommendation broadly based is focus on talent rather than skill okay combining a broad understanding of the industry and what we’re what we’re trying to accomplish and what we’re building it’s taken the the the countries that have historically led this industry have been working at this and for 50 to 70 years we’ve developed that understanding and that broad swath of knowledge over 50 to 70 years if we’re going to do it here in two years it’s going to take a very different focus on how we develop the understanding of the of the industry so that that’s my expectation but by doing that we can address all of those gaps sort of at

Paul Triolo

the same time great great yeah i mean i think that the the the skill skilling is the sort of popular word here but it may not be the right way to think about this industry given what we discussed about the complexity uh of manufacturing and and the the disciplines that are needed it really is a commitment to a to a you know a huge set of uh to a huge set of uh to a huge set of uh to a huge set of uh to a huge set of uh to a huge set of talent development um that again uh collaboration with IAS and the academic world is so important. So let’s turn back to Professor Chandekar.

I know we’re going to have a little bit of time for questions, I hope, at the end. What is IAS? So I’ve talked about what is IAS looking for from the government. What is IAS looking for the industry as we enter, particularly think in terms of ISM 2 .0, which I think is really important. We may not know all the details. And then are there areas where things can be improved or streamlined? And what are the challenges? Because this is, as we know, that now this is a complex

Professor Saurabh Chandorkar

Right. So from the industry, some of the things that we already are actually in a process of talking with industry in this regard, which is he just mentioned right now that you don’t necessarily have to focus on one particular skill. But still making the coursework tailored to. what is actually essential for some of the skills that are needed is something that needs to happen. And so as an example, we recently started a course for just giving hands -on training to students, sort of people working in labs, on how do pressure gauges work, how do you build PNID systems. Those are the kinds of things that, for example, he just talked about, how you need to be able to maintain tools.

And that’s the kind of training that we are, in fact, giving in our own courses as well. In fact, one of the rather interesting ways in which ISC is currently sort of providing service to the industry is by just training. Our own 50 -odd employees who work in our fabs. those actually are surprisingly in demand are immensely in demand and it’s very hard for us to keep them in so what we would like more from industry is maybe more of this kind of hand holding that so for example we talked with LAM and did this together with them this needs to actually sort of grow across and to some extent we can do it but I think LAM since you guys already are giving out this software to so many other places maybe it would be easier to do the same elsewhere as well and I’m sure that’s something that’s going to be of great use

David Freed

just one comment I’ll make is this is one of the few situations where industry doesn’t need to be convinced to be involved here if we don’t fill that talent gap we will fail Like all of our business objectives and our growth objectives for the next 10 years require the talent pipeline to be developed. So this is not something where you’re trying to crack into industry or trying to convince us to do something we don’t want to do. We fail if this doesn’t happen. And so I think it’s like one of these examples where we have mutually perfectly aligned objectives. And so we’re trying. I’ve had meetings for the last two days with different ministers and different agencies here in India where we’re trying to find the ways we can be more involved.

One way, and I hope I’m not ruining any surprise, an idea that came up over the last couple days is faculty fellowships at these companies. Right? If we could take the faculty and give them a job, if we can figure out a way to get that funded, give the faculty a job for six to nine months inside our companies, in the industry, and really drive more industry -relevant knowledge to the faculty, to the universities, I think this is a brilliant idea. And we’re going to try to pursue this. And this idea only comes when we sit down at the table and we start talking. What do the universities need? What do we need? What can we provide?

How do we make this work? But nobody needs to convince us. We need this to happen.

Professor Saurabh Chandorkar

Right, right. Yeah, along the same lines, maybe more projects that these students do for PhD, if they are aligned with not just LAM, actually, all the entire center.

David Freed

No, no, no, just LAM. Just LAM. Just LAM.

Professor Saurabh Chandorkar

Yeah, so I think that would really work out. And I think that’s kind of important. And I truly believe that unless you do projects along the lines of something like, which is aligned with industry, it’s not necessarily. He did say that, you did say that talent matters. But I think the fact that we have small time window actually means that we don’t have as much time. Yeah. As for example, so. So I think that’s a really good point. So as an example, I myself did my PhD in, you know, men’s. And in industry, when I joined Intel, I started out with no knowledge of all the SPC stuff, no knowledge of, you know, how they do stuff on the floor and whatnot.

But I had to learn it, and I had enough time. I had no problems. This is not the case here. They’re going to have, so for example, sure enough, now once data starts their fab, they’re going to quickly find out how hard it really is, how quickly and how often you fail, and how it’s important to pick yourselves up and to move forward. And sort of that sort of, I think that’s something that PhDs, for example, have a lot in them, sort of built into them, because they fail and mostly just fail and then eventually succeed at some point. And so I think that’s another thing that probably needs to happen at a bigger scale.

I think that’s a big deal within India where PhDs, more PhDs now also start looking into these kinds of jobs and just sort of. having at least some bent towards them. So that would be a thing.

Paul Triolo

And I think it’s important that having the manufacturing, having the fact that there’s going to be fabs, I mean, Japan is going through a similar thing, right, where for a long time they weren’t doing advanced logic, and now that’s one of the reasons they attracted TSMC to come to build a fab. And now within the academic sector, there’s a lot of interest in hardware engineering because it’s a hard discipline, but at the end of the day, if the country is building fabs and there’s a need for engineers, then that makes it more attractive because it has to be, so that’s part of the whole ecosystem building.

David Freed

I was just going to say, I think, I joke around that I only want LAM to benefit from this, but I think we’re seeing other companies in the industry follow us. Obviously, LAM is leading this effort. Obviously, LAM is… benefiting from this already, right? We’re already seeing the talent pipeline develop. We’re scaling the team in Bangalore. We’re already getting the benefits from this. And so because of that, our competitors, but also our partner companies have started doing the same. And so I think we are seeing, you know, I can say ASML, they’re not a competitor. They’re a very good partner. We work with them very closely. We see them following suit. They’re jumping in and trying to do some of the same things that we’re doing here in India because, again, their business objectives are reliant on closing that talent gap.

So I do think we’re seeing, I’m very, very proud of LAM. I’m very proud that we’re leading this, that we’re out in front. But I’m also very proud to see the rest of the industry jumping in, copying what we’re doing because we all need it to happen.

Paul Triolo

Great. Do we want to take a couple questions from the audience? Okay, wow, we got a lot of them. Okay, let’s go right here.

Harish Kumar

Thank you very much Chairman. I am Harish Kumar from CSTV, Access to Energy Systems. Question, first of all I would like to thank the Minister for having a very good start -up in the semiconductor industries in India. So the question is how to make a skilling, skilling India, energizing India. Skilling India, there are two questions. How to make the lamp research, make a skilling activity like in wafer development, wafer in solar technology. The solar cells and solar module came from the wafers. So there is no unit of any kind in India on wafer development. So there is any program on wafer development for the solar manufacturing, solar cell manufacturing and marketing in India, not import anything.

I don’t know if you…

Professor Saurabh Chandorkar

So I can actually answer to some extent and let him take over from there. Actually, there are efforts going on in India for, in fact, polycrystalline silicon growth for wafers, and that’s something that is coming up. I won’t reveal because I don’t know exactly if they want to reveal it, but it’s a big company. They’ll be bringing it in. So it’s happening. It’s going to happen.

Harish Kumar

Because of the skill development, India has a youth, 40 % youth in India. The question is skilling, skilling in India, energizing in India, solar technology. We’re bringing solar technology to marketing.

David Freed

Sure. I think, I mean, one thing I would say is, like, leveraging the connection between, between industry, academia, the government. And it’s been incredibly fruitful. It’s also just been, frankly, pleasant. It’s been such a joy to work together between the government, academia, and our industry. And I think solar should follow a similar model, right, where there’s business opportunity, where there’s an educational opportunity, where there’s an incentive to be successful as a country. We put those pieces together, and wonderful things can happen. And I cannot express how wonderful, how enjoyable this experience has been in India because the faculty we’ve worked with at IASC and the other schools are such consummate professionals, are so invested in this vision of the future, and the government is backing it.

So I would urge, you know, copycat this model of putting the three pieces together and one day… Wonderful things can happen because the demand is here, the supply is here, and the commitment to the vision is here.

Participant

Okay, one question May I? This feels very palpably like a Y2K moment where the demand is there and you have this great opportunity if somebody was listening to this and they have a young person in the family and they’re looking to pivot in a flowchart, what is the first thing that the young person needs to do to get into this market?

David Freed

As a young person problem solving, critical thinking whether they want to be building Legos or doing coding exercises critical thinking, problem solving and then some specialization will occur naturally later but what I would urge against and it goes back to some of my messages before is focusing exclusively on a specific skill because this is the path to success Thank you and just look at what’s happening with our previous focus on coding. Okay, everybody said coding is our way to the future. Coding is the way to success. And now AI is writing all the code. So I would stress, like, avoid the urge to focus on a very single skill, a single solution, and I would focus on a broad -based understanding, problem -solving critical thinking, physics, chemistry, material science, the broad, hard physical sciences lead to these disciplines across the ecosystem.

Now, I say this as a father of two who has failed miserably to get his daughters into STEM. But I tried. I tried really, really hard, and I think that’s where the kids, that’s where the talent is going to come from, by thinking broadly, by thinking critically and thinking about problem -solving, rather than picking one skill to get very good at.

Paul Triolo

I got my daughter into chemical engineering.

Participant

Just a minute. Sir, I have one intervention directly to you, David. I was listening to you with rapt attention. Excuse me. I would come to know that about the talent. I was a student of English Literature of Calcutta University 30 years ago. There is a very famous essay by T.S. Eliot where he mentioned about traditional and individual talent. It is a talent pool which matters a lot. I have a specific question with respect to optimization, which you mentioned. About the semiconductor is AI, AI is semiconductor, and it’s optimization policy. And it says that could you just please just highlight as much as possible.

Paul Triolo

All right. Well, that will be our last question.

David Freed

So the interesting thing, I think, again, optimization and some of these technologies have to be really discipline focused. And so when we’re doing R &D, we’re in a small data environment. We don’t have a lot of data. Optimization isn’t. Isn’t very helpful when we’re in manufacturing. We have lots of data. Optimization is extremely helpful. And so we’re developing machine learning and AI techniques. But you have to bring the right tool to the job. Optimism.

Participant

Sir, I have one intervention directly to you, David. I was listening to you with rapt attention. Excuse me. I would come to know that about the talent. I was a student of English Literature of Calcutta University 30 years ago. There is a very famous essay by T.S. Eliot where he mentioned about traditional individual talent. It is the talent pool which matters a lot. I have a specific question with respect to optimization, which you mentioned, about the semiconductor is AI, AI is semiconductor, and it’s optimization policy, and it says that could you please just highlight as much as possible.

Paul Triolo

All right. Well, that will be our last question.

David Freed

So the interesting thing, I think, again, optimization and some of these technologies have to be really discipline -focused. And so when we’re doing R &D, we’re in a small data environment. We don’t have a lot of data. Optimization isn’t very helpful. When we’re in manufacturing, we have lots of data. Optimization is extremely helpful. And so we’re developing machine learning and AI techniques. But you have to bring the right. You have to bring the right tool to the job. Optimization is a great tool to the job. Organization in a small data R &D mode isn’t always super helpful. Very, very helpful in a big data manufacturing mode. So I think we really have to focus on the discipline.

Paul Triolo

All right. Well, with that, we have to call it an end because we have exceeded the time allotted to us. There are other people waiting to use this room. So thank you very much, David. Thank you, Paul, for hosting. Thank you very much, Professor Chandakar. Appreciate it. Thank you very much, Paul. Thank you. All right. Yeah. He gets a black dress. Come over here for a photo op. Thank you. Thank you.

S. Krishnan

Speech speed

157 words per minute

Speech length

AI‑Semiconductor Convergence and Market Outlook

Topics

Artificial intelligence | Capacity development

David Freed

Speech speed

164 words per minute

Speech length

AI‑Semiconductor Convergence and Market Outlook

Topics

Artificial intelligence | Capacity development

Ashwini Vaishnaw

Speech speed

129 words per minute

Speech length

Industry Contributions and LAM Research’s Role

Topics

The enabling environment for digital development

Rangesh Raghavan

Speech speed

123 words per minute

Speech length

1070 words

Speech time

521 seconds

Coordinated policy‑industry event signalling commitment

Explanation

Raghavan highlights that the panel itself is a coordinated effort between government, industry and academia, demonstrating strong policy commitment.

Evidence

“We have experts here who can talk about how we build scalable, holistic workforce strategies to develop India’s semiconductor ambitions” [76].

Major discussion point

Government Policy, Missions, and Strategic Initiatives (ISM 2.0, AI Mission, Fab Roll‑out)

Topics

The enabling environment for digital development

Workforce training on advanced semiconductor manufacturing

Explanation

He notes that building India’s workforce for advanced manufacturing is a key focus of the discussion.

Evidence

“in building India’s workforce training on advanced semiconductor manufacturing” [2].

Major discussion point

Workforce and Talent Development for the Semiconductor Ecosystem

Topics

Capacity development

Paul Triolo

Speech speed

143 words per minute

Speech length

767 words

Speech time

320 seconds

Three‑way collaboration among government, industry, academia

Explanation

Triolo stresses that effective semiconductor development requires a strong partnership between the three sectors.

Evidence

“And I think this integration of government support for both the academic piece of this and the industry piece is really important, a really important three‑way relationship” [82].

Major discussion point

Government Policy, Missions, and Strategic Initiatives (ISM 2.0, AI Mission, Fab Roll‑out)

Topics

The enabling environment for digital development

Professor Saurabh Chandorkar

Speech speed

143 words per minute

Speech length

Solar Technology and Domestic Wafer Development

Topics

Environmental impacts | Capacity development

Harish Kumar

Speech speed

140 words per minute

Speech length

158 words

Speech time

67 seconds

Need for indigenous solar‑wafer development programme

Explanation

Kumar asks whether India has any programme for developing solar wafers domestically rather than relying on imports.

Evidence

“So there is any program on wafer development for the solar manufacturing, solar cell manufacturing and marketing in India, not import anything” [130].

Major discussion point

Solar Technology and Domestic Wafer Development

Topics

Environmental impacts

Participant

Speech speed

170 words per minute

Speech length

277 words

Speech time

97 seconds

Talent pool matters for semiconductor growth

Explanation

The participant emphasizes that having a strong talent pool is crucial for the sector’s success.

Evidence

“It is a talent pool which matters a lot” [18].

Major discussion point

Workforce and Talent Development for the Semiconductor Ecosystem

Topics

Capacity development

AI‑semiconductor optimization policy question

Explanation

The participant asks for clarification on the optimization policy linking AI and semiconductors, highlighting the convergence theme.

Evidence

“About the semiconductor is AI, AI is semiconductor, and it’s optimization policy” [55].

Major discussion point

AI‑Semiconductor Convergence and Market Outlook

Topics

Artificial intelligence

Agreements

Agreement points

Broad talent development over narrow skill specialization

Speakers

– David Freed
– Professor Saurabh Chandorkar

Arguments

Focus should be on developing broad talent and understanding rather than singular skills, emphasizing critical thinking and problem-solving over specific technical skills

Students need broad understanding of semiconductor processes and integration, not just individual skills, to be ready for various ecosystem roles

Summary

Both speakers emphasize that semiconductor workforce development should focus on comprehensive understanding and critical thinking rather than narrow technical skills, with Freed advocating for physics, chemistry, and material science foundations, while Chandorkar stresses understanding of overall semiconductor manufacturing processes

Topics

Capacity development

Multi-layered training approach combining software tools with hands-on experience

Speakers

– David Freed
– Professor Saurabh Chandorkar

The semiconductor industry faces a million-person talent gap across diverse roles from field service engineers to process developers and device engineers

The million-person shortage in semiconductor talent represents a huge challenge that requires immediate attention and strategic planning

Summary

Both speakers acknowledge the enormous scale of the talent shortage in semiconductors, describing it as a critical challenge that spans multiple disciplines and requires immediate strategic response

Topics

Capacity development | Social and economic development

Capacity development | Social and economic development

Unexpected consensus

Industry’s natural motivation for workforce development

Speakers

– David Freed
– Professor Saurabh Chandorkar

Arguments

Industry has perfectly aligned objectives with academia and government because business success depends on closing the talent gap

IISc needs more industry collaboration for hands-on training and coursework tailored to essential skills, including practical training on tool maintenance

Explanation

It’s unexpected that industry representatives would be so openly enthusiastic about educational collaboration, with Freed explicitly stating that industry doesn’t need convincing because their business depends on it. This creates unusually strong alignment between profit motives and educational goals

Topics

Capacity development | The enabling environment for digital development

Replicability of semiconductor model to other sectors

Speakers

– David Freed
– Harish Kumar
– Professor Saurabh Chandorkar

Arguments

Solar technology development should follow the semiconductor model of industry-academia-government collaboration

Solar technology requires skilled workforce development similar to semiconductor industry approach

There are efforts underway in India for polycrystalline silicon growth for wafers by major companies

Explanation

There’s unexpected consensus that the semiconductor workforce development model should be applied to other technology sectors like solar energy, suggesting the approach has broader applicability than initially anticipated

Topics

Environmental impacts | Capacity development | The enabling environment for digital development

Overall assessment

Summary

The discussion reveals strong consensus on key strategic directions: comprehensive ecosystem development beyond chip manufacturing, broad talent development over narrow skills training, multi-stakeholder collaboration between industry-academia-government, and the urgent need to address the massive talent shortage. There’s also agreement on the replicability of successful models to other technology sectors.

Consensus level

Very high level of consensus with no significant disagreements identified. The alignment spans government policy makers, industry leaders, and academic representatives, suggesting a mature and coordinated approach to semiconductor workforce development. This strong consensus implies that implementation challenges are likely to be operational rather than strategic, with clear shared vision for India’s semiconductor future.

Differences

Different viewpoints

Approach to talent development – skills vs. broad understanding

Speakers

– David Freed
– Professor Saurabh Chandorkar

Arguments

Focus should be on developing broad talent and understanding rather than singular skills, emphasizing critical thinking and problem-solving over specific technical skills

IISc needs more industry collaboration for hands-on training and coursework tailored to essential skills, including practical training on tool maintenance

Summary

While both agree on the need for comprehensive training, Freed emphasizes avoiding specific skills in favor of broad understanding, while Chandorkar advocates for tailored coursework that includes specific essential skills like tool maintenance and process control

Topics

Capacity development

Timeline and readiness expectations for workforce development

Speakers

– David Freed
– Professor Saurabh Chandorkar

Arguments

Countries leading the industry developed understanding over 50-70 years; need for physics, chemistry, material science foundation

The foundation has been laid through programs like Semiverse, but second-layer hands-on training in actual fab environments is needed across India

Summary

Freed emphasizes the long-term nature of developing industry understanding (50-70 years historically) and warns against rushing, while Chandorkar focuses on the immediate need for practical hands-on training given India’s shorter timeline

Topics

Capacity development | Social and economic development

Unexpected differences

Data availability and optimization application

Speakers

– David Freed

Arguments

Optimization techniques must be discipline-focused, useful in big data manufacturing environments but less helpful in small data R&D environments

Explanation

This was an unexpected technical disagreement that emerged from a participant’s question about optimization. Freed’s nuanced view that optimization tools should be applied differently based on data availability (R&D vs manufacturing) was not anticipated in the main discussion flow

Topics

Artificial intelligence | Social and economic development

Overall assessment

Summary

The discussion showed remarkable consensus on major strategic goals with minor disagreements on implementation approaches. The main tension was between broad foundational education versus targeted practical skills training

Disagreement level

Low level of disagreement with high strategic alignment. The disagreements were primarily about methodology and emphasis rather than fundamental goals, which suggests strong potential for collaborative implementation of semiconductor workforce development initiatives

Partial agreements

Both agree that students need broad understanding of the semiconductor ecosystem rather than narrow skills, but they differ on the balance between theoretical understanding and practical hands-on training

Speakers

– David Freed
– Professor Saurabh Chandorkar

Arguments

The talent gap spans multiple disciplines and requires understanding of the entire semiconductor ecosystem, not just individual skills

Students need broad understanding of semiconductor processes and integration, not just individual skills, to be ready for various ecosystem roles

Topics

Capacity development

All speakers agree on the need for comprehensive ecosystem development and government-industry-academia collaboration, but they emphasize different aspects – Krishnan focuses on policy framework, Vaishnaw on educational expansion, and Freed on industry alignment

Speakers

– S. Krishnan
– Ashwini Vaishnaw
– David Freed

Arguments

India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 will cover the entire ecosystem including semiconductor equipment manufacturing, representing a critical step forward

The semiconductor industry growth in India is unprecedented, with expansion from design focus to manufacturing and now equipment and materials

Industry has perfectly aligned objectives with academia and government because business success depends on closing the talent gap

Topics

The enabling environment for digital development | Capacity development | Social and economic development

Capacity development | Social and economic development

Takeaways

Key takeaways

India’s semiconductor industry is experiencing unprecedented growth with expansion from design to manufacturing and equipment, requiring a comprehensive workforce development strategy

A critical million-person talent gap exists across the semiconductor ecosystem, spanning from field service engineers to process developers and device engineers

The focus should be on developing broad talent with critical thinking and problem-solving skills rather than narrow technical specialization

The collaboration model between industry (LAM Research), academia (IISc), and government has proven successful and should be replicated for other sectors like solar technology

India Semiconductor Mission 2.0 will expand to cover the entire ecosystem including semiconductor equipment manufacturing, representing a strategic shift toward comprehensive supply chain participation

Industry has perfectly aligned incentives with academia and government because business success depends entirely on closing the talent gap

Training programs have successfully expanded from 50 to 315 universities, demonstrating scalable workforce development capability

India’s semiconductor market will reach $100 billion by end of decade, requiring significant domestic capacity for both local consumption and export competitiveness

Resolutions and action items

Pursue faculty fellowship programs where faculty spend 6-9 months working inside semiconductor companies to gain industry-relevant knowledge

Expand hands-on training facilities and programs across India beyond IISc to provide second-layer practical fab experience

Continue government support for training initiatives under India Semiconductor Mission 2.0

Develop more PhD projects aligned with industry needs across the entire semiconductor ecosystem

Implement coursework tailored to essential industry skills including tool maintenance and process control

Scale the successful LAM-IISc-government collaboration model to other technology sectors like solar manufacturing

Unresolved issues

Specific funding mechanisms for faculty fellowship programs at semiconductor companies

Detailed implementation timeline and resource allocation for India Semiconductor Mission 2.0

How to rapidly scale hands-on fab training capacity across 315 universities to meet the million-person talent gap

Specific strategies for developing precision manufacturing skills for semiconductor equipment production

Integration of solar technology workforce development into the existing semiconductor training framework

Balancing the need for rapid skill development with the complexity of semiconductor manufacturing knowledge that traditionally takes 50-70 years to develop

Suggested compromises

Focus on broad talent development rather than specific skills to address the diverse nature of the million-person gap across multiple disciplines

Combine theoretical education through programs like Semiverse with practical hands-on training in actual fab environments

Leverage India’s existing strength in design talent while building new capabilities in advanced manufacturing

This comment was prophetic in highlighting how technological disruption (like AI automating coding) can make narrow skill-based training obsolete. It advocated for foundational knowledge that remains relevant despite technological changes.

Impact

This insight reinforced the earlier theme about talent vs. skills and provided a compelling example (coding being automated by AI) that resonated with the audience. It influenced the final recommendations about focusing on critical thinking and broad scientific understanding rather than specific technical skills.

Overall assessment

Explanation

While examples like pressure gauges and PNID systems training were mentioned, a comprehensive curriculum framework tailored to industry needs requires further development

Disclaimer: This is not an official session record. DiploAI generates these resources from audiovisual recordings, and they are presented as-is, including potential errors. Due to logistical challenges, such as discrepancies in audio/video or transcripts, names may be misspelled. We strive for accuracy to the best of our ability.

AI-Powered Chips and Skills Shaping Indias Next-Gen Workforce

Summary

Keypoints

Major Discussion Points:

Overall Purpose:

Overall Tone:

Speakers

Strategic Context and Industry Growth

The Global Talent Gap Challenge

Talent Development Philosophy: Breadth Over Specialization

Industry-Academia-Government Collaboration

Training Approaches and Strategic Positioning

Implementation and Future Directions

Conclusion

Advanced manufacturing skill shortage

Explanation

Evidence

Major discussion point

Topics

ISM 2.0 ecosystem‑wide mission

Explanation

Evidence

Major discussion point

Topics

LAM as a “lucky charm” for ecosystem building

Explanation

Evidence

Major discussion point

Topics

International training programmes (FRABS, OSATs)

Explanation

Evidence

Major discussion point

Topics

AI‑semiconductor market outlook ($100 bn by 2030)

Explanation

Evidence

Major discussion point

Topics

Broad talent pipeline over narrow skill focus

Explanation

Evidence

Major discussion point

Topics

LAM leading the talent‑pipeline effort

Explanation

Evidence

Major discussion point

Topics

Faculty fellowships to embed academics in industry

Explanation

Evidence

Major discussion point

Topics

Big‑data manufacturing vs small‑data R&D

Explanation

Evidence

Major discussion point

Topics

Quantitative talent targets for clean‑room and design

Explanation

Evidence

Major discussion point

Topics

Announcement of new fab in Uttar Pradesh

Explanation

Evidence

Major discussion point

Topics

Semiconductor as a critical AI layer

Explanation

Evidence

Major discussion point

Topics

Government appreciation of LAM’s ecosystem work

Explanation

Evidence

Major discussion point

Topics

Coordinated policy‑industry event signalling commitment

ISM 2.0 ecosystem‑wide mission

AI‑semiconductor market outlook ($100 bn by 2030)